Is Nintendo Done With Consoles? (We Don't Think So) - NVC Ep 439

By Ign Staff

Weeeeeelcooooome to Nintendo Voice Chat Episode 439. Nintendo surprised us with a few cool announcements on Twitter -- and then there were some interesting and to fans potentially alarming comments Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa made in an interview with Japanese business publication Nikkei.

In the Nikkei interview conducted in late December (and translated by Nintendo Everything), Furukawa is interviewed about the risks of running a console and games business and volunteers that the company "isn't really fixated" on its consoles. "At the moment we’re offering the uniquely developed Nintendo Switch and its software – and that’s what we’re basing how we deliver the “Nintendo experience” on. That being said, technology changes. We’ll continue to think flexibly about how to deliver that experience as time goes on", he said.

"It has been over 30 years since we started developing consoles. Nintendo’s history goes back even farther than that, and through all the struggles that they faced the only thing that they thought about was what to make next. In the long-term, perhaps our focus as a business could shift away from home consoles – flexibility is just as important as ingenuity."

Furukawa offered up that he is thinking about ways to reduce instability and that increasing the amount of smartphone games could bolster revenue. He also reiterates that the company has aspirations on the lifestyle front and is "dabbling in theme parks and movies", referring to its partnership with Universal Studios and the forthcoming Mario movie.

Our NVC panel this week discusses what Nintendo's future could look like: will the move to game streaming usher in a "box-less" future, will the Switch be Nintendo's last console, or is there nothing fans have to be worried about for quite a while. We also talk about Super Mario Bros. U, Dragon's Dogma, and the latest Nintendo Online games (Japan got three, unfair!). If that sounds interesting, please tune in the show and join the discussion!

Remember, you can watch NVC here on IGN on Thursdays at 3pm PT. Catch the video and audio 24 hours later on our YouTube channel or listen to it on your commute in audio format. If you enjoy the show, share it with other Nintendo fans, leave us a comment, and give us a thumbs up or leave us a review! If you prefer audio over video, please subscribe to NVC on iTunes or your podcast service of choice.

What do you think? Will Switch be Nintendo's last "traditional" console?